Smoothie Detox

It’s the same old story every summer. Until May, I’m perfectly fit and in good shape. But then, in May, it all starts. Every May-June, I gain weight. No matter how healthy my diet is or how much I exercise, it’s become unavoidable for me. I think the arrival of summer, going out more, holidays, celebrations, and less home-cooked meals are contributing factors. Because I have a metabolic disorder, my metabolism works at a snail’s pace, and anything outside my usual routine gets stored in my system. So, in this May-June routine, I gained three kilos again. When I gained one kilo, I thought, “Oh, it’ll be gone quickly.” When I gained two kilos, I said, “I’ll deal with it after the holidays.” When I reached three kilos, a rebellion started inside me: “I have to stop!”

Last week I mentioned this on my Instagram account and wrote that I would be doing a week-long detox next week. On Monday, I have the Tarkan concert, which I look forward to every year and have been so excited about lately. Wednesday is also my birthday. I don’t think I’ll look very cheerful with a smoothie bottle in my hand on any of these three nights. So, on July 13th, I’m going to do a week-long detox, and I said, “Come join us!” and so many people joined. It turns out I’m not alone; there are so many others suffering from vacation weight like me. As the saying goes, “strength in unity,” so I rolled up my sleeves.

How will I do it?

First of all, I want to state that heavy detoxes are not for me at all. I become very unhappy and I don’t find them healthy. I have seen that this system works for me and many people I work with. Therefore, I will only have liquid meals in the evenings. During the day, I will eat whatever I want, so I won’t be unhappy. The most important thing in these things is to be happy. If you are unhappy with what you are doing, it becomes impossible to continue and get results.

Every day, I will walk or do another cardio (i.e., exercise that raises your heart rate) for at least 60 minutes. Since I already exercise a lot, this 60 minutes is my goal. Don’t be intimidated, you can set a goal of 30 minutes for yourself.

In the morning, I will have my classic breakfast of eggs or oatmeal. (2023 edit: I no longer have oatmeal for breakfast, I have breakfast salad instead) When I say eggs, it could be a pancake with 2 eggs, 2 boiled eggs, and plenty of tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese. When I say oatmeal, I mean oatmeal soaked in milk or yogurt overnight, along with chia seeds and a piece of fruit for breakfast.

For lunch, I have a large vegetable dish with a small source of protein. If I didn’t eat eggs in the morning, I’ll have eggs; if I did, I’ll have legumes, meatballs, chicken, or fish – animal proteins.

In this diet, I have a substantial afternoon snack to prevent hunger at night because dinner will be quite light. I will choose my snacks as follows:

One fruit (excluding bananas, figs, and melon) and peanut butter

One boiled egg and plenty of salad if I haven’t eaten eggs for breakfast or lunch

One bowl of yogurt and one piece of fruit

One tablespoon of chia seeds in a glass of milk and one piece of fruit

A large salad with 2-3 tablespoons of cottage cheese

And now we come to the most important meal, dinner. Eating dinner early and in small portions is the best way to nourish our bodies. We don’t overwork our metabolism, which slows down and goes into sleep mode as the sun sets. Both our stomach and intestines feel comfortable. Our stomach swells with liquid, but because we’ve had a main meal with fewer calories, it helps with weight loss.

What we should pay attention to is that the smoothies we make in the evening should be fruit-free or with sour fruit. Fruit sugar consumed at night leads to unnecessary insulin secretion, tires the pancreas, and extra sugar accumulating in our bodies, which in turn leads to fat accumulation. Therefore, these days I’m constantly thinking about vegetable smoothies with a little fruit. You can think of them as a kind of cold soup. If the idea of drinking dinner straight from a bottle is off-putting, we can just put our cold soups in bowls and eat them spoonful by spoonful. That’s another option. We said the important thing is to be happy first, didn’t we?

Our smoothies or soups will generally be based on yogurt or kefir so we can get good probiotics at night. Plant-based milks are also an option.

I will post the cold soup or smoothie I make each evening on my Instagram account the next morning so you can gather any missing ingredients during the day.

Join me and get rid of some of that extra weight gained during holidays and celebrations. Motivation and support are key in these situations. Let’s get started!

I wish everyone healthy, happy, and sugar-free days.

Note: If you have any chronic illnesses, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are taking any medication regularly, do not make any dietary changes without consulting your doctor. This is a weight-loss program I am doing for myself.

*This text was originally published in my column on the HTHayat website. It is an excerpt from my article dated July 7, 2017.

Smoothie Recipes

Smoothie recipes are usually very fruity. Although I love fruit, I’m one of those who believes it should be eaten in moderation, so I needed to make smoothies without overwhelming them with fruit. The following are the results. Finding smoothie recipes with less or no fruit is very difficult. I hope these will be useful for you too 🙂

The order of the days doesn’t matter. We made them in this order on Instagram. You can mix them however you like.

Blend all the ingredients and enjoy them instead of dinner 🙂

Ingredients:

1 cup kefir or yogurt
1 cup chard, kale, or spinach
1/2 green apple
Optional: lemon juice and a pinch of salt

Ingredients:

1 cup Swiss chard/spinach/kale
1 cucumber
1/2 avocado
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2-3 mint leaves or dried mint
1/2 cup strawberries, blackberries, or cherries
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 cup water
Topped with 1 teaspoon pumpkin seeds

Ingredients:

1/2 avocado
1 clove of garlic and 1 sprig of fresh onion (optional, but believe me, it goes very well)
1 handful of parsley, 2-3 leaves of basil
1/2 lemon juice
2 cucumbers
2 celery stalks (available at Carrefour and Migros. It’s wonderfully filling)
1 glass of water
A pinch of salt

Ingredients:

1 cucumber
1 chili pepper (optional but speeds up metabolism)
1 handful of lettuce or curly lettuce
1 handful of parsley
1 glass of yogurt or kefir
a pinch of salt
Topped with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin seeds (not mandatory but they leave a nice crunchy taste when you drink it)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons raw cashews or almonds (cashews taste better)
1/4 avocado (try not to consume too much other fat during the day)
2 teaspoons cocoa
1/2 cup strawberries/blackberries/raspberries
1 cup water